During a meeting between Tamar Tkeshelashvili and Adrian Fozard, both parties expressed their interest in bolstering collaborative efforts, particularly in the realms of upholding the rule of law and enhancing public services. Concrete initiatives for further collaboration were deliberated upon with enthusiasm.

The First Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Minister, Beka Dzamashvili informed the representative of the World Bank about the innovative project implemented by the Ministry of Justice - Mobile Public Service Hall.

Discussions encompassed various spheres of the Ministry of Justice's activities, including ensuring the accessibility and efficiency of public services and ongoing reforms within the penitentiary system.

Tamar Tkeshelashvili underscored the history of successful cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the World Bank. Notably:

The completion of the irrigation and land market development project's component by the public registry, as affirmed by the World Bank.

Commencing from 2023, a joint project has been in progress, supported by both the World Bank and the Government of Georgia. This initiative focuses on the adoption of innovative technologies for land administration by the National Public Registry Agency. It also aims at establishing a unified National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and a geoportal.

The GRAIL project, in which the Public Registry is actively involved, receives funding from both the Government of Georgia and the World Bank.

The meeting was also attended by Chair of the National Public Registry Agency, Davit Devidze and Head of the Department of International Relations and Legal Cooperation of the Ministry of Justice, Keti Sarajishvili.

The exhibition showcases handcrafted items and paintings created on fabric and canvas. A portion of the proceeds from the sales will be dedicated to supporting beneficiaries of the Juvenile Referral Center.

Visitors to the event have the opportunity to contribute to the cause through donations, even without making a purchase. A designated collection box has been placed within the exhibition hall for this purpose.

This charitable initiative marks its third consecutive year, having already established itself as a tradition. This year, over 70 Ministry of Justice employees have presented their works.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze visited the exhibition “Artists of Justice" together with his deputies. The Minister emphasized the significance of extending assistance to the minors of the Referral Center and expressed gratitude to all participants for their involvement in this event.

The exhibition space at the National Archives of Georgia will be open to visitors on March 1-2, from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

During the meeting, Minister Rati Bregadze underscored the significance of deepening sectoral cooperation with European counterparts, particularly for Georgia as a candidate country for the European Union.

Highlighting the pivotal role of the Ministry of Justice in advancing Georgia's EU candidacy, Minister Bregadze outlined significant strides, including the implementation of key steps from the EU's 12-step plan. Notably, the ministry's efforts have been instrumental in combating organized crime (step 6) and proactively utilizing Strasbourg Court decisions (step 11) to bolster Georgia's EU candidacy status.

Emphasizing the urgency of legal harmonization, Minister Bregadze stressed the imperative of expediting the alignment of Georgian legislation with EU law within the framework of the EU enlargement policy.

On the topic of legal rapprochement, last week, Minister Bregadze participated in the Conference of Ministers of Justice in Zagreb, where concerted efforts towards fulfilling obligations outlined in Chapter 23 (Justice and Fundamental Rights) were deliberated. Key initiatives discussed include:

• - Submission of legislative amendments mandating all government agencies to seek the Ministry of Justice's legal opinion on EU draft law compliance prior to initiating draft laws in Parliament;
• - Launch of an electronic platform facilitating the recording, planning, and evaluation of the legal convergence process;
• - Development of the "Guide to Approximation of Georgian Legislation to EU Legislation," alongside plans to establish the EU Law Center within the Training Center of Justice.

Rati Bregadze also emphasized the Ministry's proactive stance in fostering legal cooperation with European counterparts, exemplified by the inaugural Georgian-German Legal Forum in 2023, with plans for the second forum in Germany this year.

At the end of the meeting, Minister Bregadze thanked Elizabeth Winkelmeyer-Becker, Chair of Bundestag's Legal Affairs Committee, for Germany's steadfast support and friendship towards Georgia's territorial integrity and European integration.

Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

where the delegation of Bundestag's Legal Affairs Committee also visited a penitentiary institution as part of their visit.

Within the framework of his visit to Croatia, Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze got acquainted with the specifics of the Lepoglava Prison. The Georgian delegation inspected the infrastructure and received information about the rehabilitation, employment, educational and sports programs operating in the penitentiary.

Rati Bregadze informed the prison administration about Georgian innovations. The host party was particularly interested in the functioning of the Re-Market and Digital University, as well as the public service hall services in the penitentiary system of Georgia.

The implementation of the best European and international standards in the fields of punishment and crime prevention is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. For this purpose, the agency will continue to study the practices of partner countries in the future.

The Georgian delegation is participating in the ongoing international conference in Zagreb, the purpose of which is to share the successful experience of Croatia on the way to joining the European Union for the candidate countries. Rati Bregadze held a presentation of the legal reforms in Georgia at the event.

The international conference "The future of EU Enlargement: Judiciary and Fundamental Rights" is organized by the Croatian Ministry of Justice and Public Administration and the European Commission. Ministers of Justice of EU candidate countries are taking part in it.

The purpose of the event is to share the successful experience of Croatia on the way to joining the European Union with the candidate countries. Georgia's participation in such platforms is especially important after the country received the status of a candidate member state of the European Union.

The Minister of Justice of Georgia introduced to the participants of the conference the successful reforms carried out to strengthen the rule of law and protection of human rights in the process of European integration. Attention was focused on the reform of the penitentiary system of Georgia and the historical minimum of pending cases against Georgia at the Strasbourg Court.

Facilitation of Georgia's accession to the European Union is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Justice. For this purpose, the agency closely cooperates with international partners, deepens sectoral cooperation, introduces the practice of bilateral legal forums, learns more about the experience of Western countries and shares information about successful reforms in Georgia.

One of the priorities of the Ministry of Justice is rehabilitation and re-socialization of convicts and ex-prisoners. A number of state programs have been introduced to support prisoners. Their goal is to promote rehabilitation and re-socialization and, in this way, to protect the public from recidivism.

The Embassy of the United States of America gives the highest evaluation to the innovation project - PROBBOX created by the Ministry of Justice, which has no analogues in the world. The Ministry is also working on the export of the indicated project.

In cooperation with the Embassy of the United States of America, the area of access to services for probationers in Georgia has been further expanded. At this stage, 10 PROBBOX devices were installed in 10 locations across the country, increasing their total number to 27.

The Ministry of Justice will continue to increase access to innovative services for probationers in the future.

PROBBOX is the first innovative technological device in Europe that provides services and electronic control of probationers. With the help of this device, the registration and provision of services to probationers, in addition to reporting to the probation bureaus, is carried out in the public service halls and municipal buildings, thus ensuring greater anonymity of probationers and increasing the geographical area of probation coverage.

The embassy also handed over 50 electronic surveillance devices to the agency, which continuously monitors the location of convicts during the execution of house arrests, and the center for professional training and retraining of convicts received a vehicle and digital equipment as a gift for the distribution of agricultural products.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Justice, Buba Lomuashvili; Deputy Ambassador of the United States of America to Georgia, Alan Furcell and Director of the Bureau of Cooperation with State Anti-Narcotics and Law Enforcement Agencies of the United States of America, Sarah Rupert; As well as, Head of the National Agency for Crime Prevention, Enforcement of Non-custodial Sentences and Probation, Lado Kheladze; and Head of the Center for Vocational Training and Retraining of Convicts, Tamta Demurishvili.

Rati Bregadze and Bjorn Berge discussed today the results of reforms of the justice and penitentiary systems.

The Minister of Justice noted the progress achieved by Georgia, which is demonstrated by the statistics of cases submitted to the European Court of Human Rights from Georgia. In particular, according to the data of January 2023, the European Court received 147 applications from Georgia, which represents a historical minimum. For comparison, by 2011, Strasbourg received 3045 cases against Georgia.

Special attention was paid to the legal status of prisoners. The Minister of Justice emphasized the fact that the systemic problem of inhuman treatment and torture has been completely eliminated in Georgian prisons, which is confirmed by a number of international authoritative organizations, including the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). It was noted that since 2012, the European Court of Human Rights has not received any lawsuits from Georgian prisons.

The parties discussed the new penitentiary code, the Digital University, projects for rehabilitation and re-socialization of prisoners, the strategy of replacing large open penitentiary institutions with small-scale prisons, etc.

The importance of the implementation of decisions made by the Strasbourg Court in interstate cases was noted, according to which the responsibility for massive human rights violations during the August 2008 war rests with the Russian Federation.

The importance of effective cooperation with the Council of Europe in the process of Georgia's integration into the European Union was emphasized.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

Rati Bregadze and Jesper Moller discussed the reforms carried out in the direction of protection of children's rights in Georgia. The parties noted that as a result of the successful cooperation of the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF, today only 54 minors are serving their sentences in the penitentiary system of Georgia, While before 2012, their number exceeded 200.

The conversation also touched upon juvenile justice reform, diversion and mediation programs, activities of the juvenile referral center, protection of the rights of children living and working in the street, and other issues.

The Minister of Justice provided the UNICEF representative with information on the legal issues of young convicts, including access to education, which, among others, is provided by the innovative project Digital University; In addition, rehabilitation and re-socialization programs in penitentiary institutions were also discussed.

Rati Bregadze offered Jesper Moller to organize joint trainings on children's rights issues.

Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

The possibility of holding the UN Public Services Forum in Georgia was discussed at the meeting held in the United States between Minister of Justice of Georgia, Rati Bregadze and the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. The United Nations Organization informed the Ministry of Justice of Georgia with an official letter confirming these prospects.

UN Deputy Secretary General, Li Junhua thanks the Ministry of Justice of Georgia for the support of public administration.

"We thank you for your support in strengthening public administration as an effective mechanism for sustainable development, and we look forward to working with the Government of Georgia to organize the 2026 Forum," states the letter.

Rati Bregadze met UN Deputy Secretary General, Li Junhua within the framework of his official visit to the United States of America in December 2023. The Minister of Justice of Georgia emphasized that fast, efficient and user-friendly public services are the calling card of the Ministry of Justice and the Government of Georgia; The agency is constantly improving its accessibility, including through the introduction of digital and innovative technologies.

From 800 to 1,000 representatives from different countries participate in the UN Public Service Forum every year, including government leaders, leading politicians and representatives of various sectors. Within the framework of the forum, participants discuss modern challenges, innovative practices and opportunities for strategic development in the direction of public services.